2001 QF96
ephemeris	date	magn	radius	delta	ra	dec	elong	phase
Today	23 Jan 2026	29.0	1.946 AU	2.479 AU	17h00m	-17°40'	47.0°	21.7°

The interactive orbit chart above shows the body's path through the solar system and its position at the given date. Green and blue lines are shown perpendicular to the ecliptic plane: Green if the path is above the ecliptic plane, blue if it is below. (Left-click and drag to rotate the view; Right-click and drag to move the view; Use scroll wheel to zoom in our out.)

The orbital elements of 2001 QF96 are:

            e (Eccentricity)                : 0.3624852
            a (Semimajor axis)              : 1.5445121
            i (Inclination)                 : 6.62779
            Ω (Longitude of ascending node) : 158.65162
            ω (Argument of perihelion)      : 224.46309
            M (Mean anomaly)                : 206.27724
            Epoch                           : 2025 Nov 21

            L (Longitude of perihelion)     : 202.92266
            B (Latitude of perihelion)      : -4.63715
            P (Orbital period in years)     : 1.92            
        

The light curve chart below shows the estimated development of the minor planet's magnitude.

The all-sky chart below shows the path of the minor planet over the same period as the light curve. The current position is marked yellow.

The following chart shows the path of the minor planet in the next few days. The field of view is optimized for (~10x50) binoculars and finderscopes.

Ephemerides:

Date       Time       RA (2000)    DEC (2000)    delta   radius  elong  phase   PA    magn
2026-01-23 00:00 UT   17 00 36.3   -17 40 41     2.479    1.946   47.0   21.7   281   29.0 
2026-01-23 09:31 UT   17 01 28.3   -17 41 24     2.475    1.945   47.2   21.8   280   29.0 
2026-01-24 00:00 UT   17 02 47.6   -17 42 27     2.468    1.943   47.5   21.9   280   29.0 
2026-01-25 00:00 UT   17 04 59.1   -17 44 06     2.456    1.941   48.0   22.1   280   29.0 
2026-01-26 00:00 UT   17 07 10.7   -17 45 37     2.445    1.938   48.5   22.4   280   29.0 
2026-01-27 00:00 UT   17 09 22.4   -17 47 01     2.433    1.935   49.0   22.6   279   28.9 
2026-01-28 00:00 UT   17 11 34.3   -17 48 17     2.421    1.932   49.5   22.8   279   28.9 
2026-01-29 00:00 UT   17 13 46.3   -17 49 26     2.409    1.929   50.0   23.0   279   28.9 
2026-01-30 00:00 UT   17 15 58.4   -17 50 27     2.397    1.926   50.4   23.2   279   28.9 
2026-01-31 00:00 UT   17 18 10.6   -17 51 21     2.386    1.923   50.9   23.4   278   28.9 
2026-02-01 00:00 UT   17 20 23.0   -17 52 07     2.374    1.920   51.4   23.6   278   28.9 
2026-02-02 00:00 UT   17 22 35.5   -17 52 45     2.361    1.917   51.9   23.9   278   28.9 
2026-02-03 00:00 UT   17 24 48.1   -17 53 16     2.349    1.914   52.4   24.1   278   28.9 
2026-02-04 00:00 UT   17 27 00.9   -17 53 39     2.337    1.911   52.9   24.3   277   28.9 
2026-02-05 00:00 UT   17 29 13.7   -17 53 54     2.325    1.908   53.4   24.5   277   28.9 
2026-02-06 00:00 UT   17 31 26.7   -17 54 01     2.313    1.905   53.8   24.7   277   28.9 
2026-02-07 00:00 UT   17 33 39.8   -17 54 01     2.300    1.902   54.3   24.9   277   28.9 
2026-02-08 00:00 UT   17 35 53.0   -17 53 52     2.288    1.899   54.8   25.1   276   28.8 

    Terminology:
            
    delta:  distance between minor planet and earth in AU
    radius: distance between minor planet and sun in AU
    magn:   magnitude (brightness) estimate    
    ra:     right ascension in hours (24h = 360deg)
    dec:    declination in degrees
    elong:  elongation in degrees (angle sun-earth-minor planet)    
    phase:  phase angle in degrees (angle sun-minor planet-earth)        
    AU:     Astronomical Unit (mean distance between earth and sun: 149597870.7 km
    

Orbital elements provided by the MPC (Minor Planet Center).
Calculations by a modified version of AAPlus, a C# implementation of the AA+ project by PJ Naughter from the algorithms presented in the book "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus.
NGC2000 dso catalog and star labels from VizieR as provided by the Strasbourg astronomical Data Center.
Tycho2 catalog from the ESO archive.